THE MYSTERIOUS WOMAN BEHIND SAHEB'S OBSESSION

A missed call to a cell phone, its number ending with the digits ******3400, purportedly led to the illegal surveillance of a young woman architect for more than two months in Gujarat.

News portals Cobra Post and Gulail claimed on Friday that the surveillance was ordered in 2009 by Narendra Modi’s close aide and the-then Gujarat minister of state for home, Amit Shah.

Though his identity remains undisclosed, the 24/7 surveillance was allegedly carried out at the behest of a certain “Saheb.” Inquiries by this newspaper reveal that eight Gujarat cops were involved in the surveillance that lasted sixty-two days.

At the centre of this op was IPS officer G L Singhal who was then Amit Shah’s confidant, but who has since fallen out with him. Both men, accused in different cases, are at present out on bail.

While Amit Shah is an accused in the Sohrabuddin killing, Singhal is an accused in the Ishrat Jahan encounter killing though the CBI failed to charge him within the stipulated 90 days.

Despite his proximity to Shah in those days, IPS officer Singhal, who led the surveillance on the young woman, kept a set of recording of his conversations with Amit Shah.

In June this year he submitted 267 clips of these conversations detailing the progress of the tailing op to the CBI to verify his charges against Shah. Aseries of interviews with sources close to the development revealed that the woman in question first met “Saheb” in 2005 when she designed a hill garden as part of government effort to rebuild quake-ravaged Bhuj.

She was introduced to him by thethen district collector Pradeep Sharma who has since emerged as a key figure in this affair. Impressed by her work, “Saheb” complimented her and called her again after he had returned to his office in another city.

Within a few weeks professional admiration led to a deepening bond. “Saheb” gave the architect his personal cell number (ending with ******3400) on which she could access him any time. At the height of their acquaintance she and “Saheb” allegedly spoke to one another eighteen times a day.

The woman shared the story of her proximity to “Saheb” with her friend and Bhuj district collector Pradeep Sharma who had introduced her to “Saheb” in the first place. She also allegedly showed him some of the text messages that she had received from “Saheb’s” private number.

Sharma reportedly saved this number. Eventually problems cropped up in her and “Saheb’s” relationship on account of his alleged possessiveness and his insistence on maintaining a public stance that she was like his daughter.

Pradeep Sharma came to know of this and one day in 2009 he audaciously called “Saheb’s” private number that he had secretly saved. The call went unanswered but “Saheb’s” suspicions were roused. Who was this person who had his personal number? He asked for call details and found it was Sharma.

That missed call was to irrevocably alter “Saheb’s” equation with the young woman. Sharma’s number was kept under observation leading to the revelation that Sharma and the young woman were in regular touch with one another.

According to sources, this was when Amit Shah allegedly ordered the illegal surveillance on the architect. “Saheb,” it seems, wanted to know everything about her. Where she went, what she said, what she did, and most importantly, whom she met, claims the Cobra Post-Gulail investigation.

Singhal led this operation. As mentioned earlier, he kept copies of audio recording of his conversations with the home minister. This June, he submitted some of those audio clips to the Central Bureau of Investigation and they have been included as part of the CBI’s panchnaama in the Ishrat Jahan case.

PAID A PRICE

Pradeep Sharma was soon paying the price for his indiscretion. The government of Gujarat filed four criminal complaints against him. He was suspended and later jailed. The 62-day surveillance ended after the woman agreed to get married married and leave Gujarat.

On Friday the woman’s father said that it was he who had asked the chief minister of Gujarat, an old family friend, to take care of his daughter who had come to Ahmedabad from Bangalore and had to commute at odd hours owing to his wife’s hospitalization in those days.

His daughter’s relationship with the CM, he said, was like that of father and daughter. For his part Amit Shah refused to respond to calls and text messages and Singhal, when we got through to him, refused to comment on the matter saying it was under investigation.

WHAT THE BJP SAYS

Regarding the claims by Cobra Post and Gulail, BJP national president Rajnath Singh said in New Delhi that the Congress's dirty trick department was behind these baseless allegations. Gujarat government spokesperson and state Finance Minister Nitin Patel said, ""We don't want to comment on it at this point. The govt doesn't have full details of the report. Only after we have gone through it, we will comment on it.""